Community guidelines

Our mission

OnMic mission is to build a community towards barrier-free expression and authentic connection through voice. We believe everyone has the need to express themselves and be listened, and voice is the most primal and unbounded form of streaming your heart and mind quite effortlessly. As we grow, we are committed to maintaining a supportive environment for our community. Our Community Guidelines define a set of norms and common code of conduct for OnMic; they provide guidance on what is and is not allowed to make a welcoming space for everyone.

Content safety

Please realize that OnMic is a diverse community and, while you may not necessarily agree with someone’s point of view, it may not be a violation of our Community Guidelines. That said, when you see a room (voice streaming session) on OnMic that you feel violates our community guidelines, please take the time to report them via our reporting tool.

OnMic isn’t a place for antagonistic, explicit, false or misleading, harmful, hateful, or violent content or behavior. We may remove, limit, or block the distribution of such content and the accounts, individuals, groups and domains that create or spread it based on how much harm it poses.

We’re committed to presenting you with clear and transparent expectations that are easy to understand and follow. If you have questions or encounter problems on OnMic, please contact us at [email protected]

Adult content

OnMic isn’t a place for pornography. We limit the distribution of or remove mature and explicit content. We do our best to to differentiate between pornography and other mature content. For example, you can host voice-streaming session about sexual health, breastfeeding, mastectomies, education and well-being given the non-pornographic context, but we may limit its distribution so people don’t run into it accidentally.

Exploitation
OnMic isn’t a place for exploitation of people or animals. We’ll remove or limit the distribution of content and accounts involved in practices that risk harm to people or animals, including sexual, physical, or financial exploitation. That includes:

• Sexualization or sexual exploitation of minors, like grooming, sexual remarks or inappropriate imagery. If we find it, we’ll report it to relevant authorities

• Adult sexual services that may involve sexual or physical exploitation or trafficking, like sex cams and escort services.

• Human trafficking, slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labor.

• Other illegal commercial exploitation, like trading in organs or products made from human remains or body parts.

• The sale of wild animals or protected and endangered wildlife.

• Corpses, animal parts or products derived from cat or dog parts, or protected and endangered wildlife, including ivory.

• Irresponsible and harmful animal tourism or otherwise exploitative practices like organized animal fighting.

Hateful activities
OnMic isn’t a place for hateful content or the people and groups that promote hateful activities. We limit the distribution of or remove such content and accounts, including:

• Slurs or negative stereotypes, caricatures and generalizations

• Support for hate groups and people promoting hateful activities, prejudice and conspiracy theories

• Condoning or trivializing violence because of a victim’s membership in a vulnerable or protected group

• Support for white supremacy, limiting women’s rights and other discriminatory ideas

• Hate-based conspiracy theories and misinformation, like Holocaust denial

• Denial of an individual’s gender identity or sexual orientation, and support for conversion therapy and related programs

• Attacks on individuals including public figures based on their membership in a vulnerable or protected group

• Mocking or attacking the beliefs, sacred symbols, movements, or institutions of the protected or vulnerable groups identified below

Protected and vulnerable groups include: People grouped together based on their actual or perceived race, color, caste, ethnicity, immigration status, national origin, religion or faith, sex or gender identity, sexual orientation, disability or medical condition. It also includes people who are grouped together based on lower socio-economic status, age, weight or size, pregnancy or veteran status.

Misinformation
OnMic isn’t a place for misinformation, disinformation, mal-information or the individuals or groups spreading or creating it. We remove or limit distribution of false or misleading content that may harm OnMic users or the public’s well-being, safety or trust, including:

• Medically unsupported health claims that risk public health and safety, including the promotion of false cures, anti-vaccination advice, or misinformation about public health or safety emergencies

• False or misleading content about individuals or protected groups that promotes fear, hate or prejudice

• False or misleading content that encourages turning individuals, groups of people, places or organizations into targets of harassment or physical violence

• Conspiracy theories

• Content that originates from disinformation campaigns

• Factual information that’s published or deliberately modified to erode trust or inflict harm, such as changing or omitting of context, date or time

• Fabricated or meaningfully manipulated audio content that erodes trust or causes harm

Civic participation misinformation:

• False or misleading content that impedes an election’s integrity or an individual's or group's civic participation, including registering to vote, voting and being counted in a census

• False or misleading information about the dates, times, locations and procedure for voting or census participation

• Content that misleads voters about how to correctly fill-out and submit a ballot, including a mail-in ballot, or census form

• False or misleading information about who can vote or participate in the census and what information must be provided to participate

• False or misleading statements about who is collecting information and/or how it will be used

• False or misleading information about public safety that is intended to deter people from exercising their right to vote or participate in a census

• Content that encourages or instructs voters or participants to misrepresent themselves or illegally participate

• Content apparently intended to delegitimize election results on the basis of false or misleading claims

• Threats against voting locations, census or voting personnel, voters or census participants, including intimidation of vulnerable or protected group voters or participants

Harassment and criticism
OnMic isn’t a place to insult, hurt or antagonize individuals or groups of people. There are good reasons to express criticism, but we may limit the distribution of or remove insulting content to keep OnMic a positive, inspiring place; this includes:

• Manipulated audio content intended to degrade or shame

• Shaming people for their bodies or assumed sexual or romantic history

• Sexual remarks about people’s bodies and solicitations or offers of sexual acts

• Criticisms involving name-calling, profanity and other insulting language or imagery

• Mocking someone for experiencing sadness, grief, loss or outrage

Private information
We don’t allow content that reveals personal or sensitive information. We remove:

• Personal ID and passport information

• Private contact information and addresses

• Online login information (usernames and passwords)

• Personal financial or medical history

If you come across unwanted information about you, you can reach out to us at [email protected].

Self-injury and harmful behavior
OnMic isn’t a place for content that rationalizes or encourages suicide, self-injury, eating disorders or substance abuse. We’ll limit the distribution of or remove such content, including:

• Self-harm instructions

• Suicidal thinking and quotes

• Promotion of self-harm

• Mocking of people who self-harm or who have attempted or died by suicide

• Negative self-talk and insensitive humor about self-harming behavior

• Suicide pacts, challenges and hoaxes

Violence and Threats

OnMic isn’t a place for graphic violence or threatening language. We limit the distribution of or remove such content, including:

• Content that shows the use of violence

• Threats or language that glorifies violence

In a few cases, we allow the saving of disturbing content dedicated to remembrance and advocacy, but limit distribution of such content in public parts of the platform.

Violent actors
OnMic isn’t a place for violent content, groups or individuals. We limit the distribution of or remove content and accounts that encourage, praise, promote, or provide aid to dangerous actors or groups and their activities. This includes:

• Extremists

• Terrorist organizations

• Gangs and other criminal organizations

We work with industry, government and security experts to help us identify these groups.

Dangerous goods and activities
OnMic isn’t a place for trading or selling of certain regulated goods—products or substances that can cause harm when used, altered or manufactured irresponsibly—or for the display or encouragement of dangerous activities. We limit the distribution of or remove such content and accounts, including:

• Individuals and unlicensed retailers offering to sell, purchase or trade alcohol, tobacco, drugs and weapons, including firearms and accessories, firearm parts or attachments, or ammunition

• Content from or about unverified, unapproved or rogue online pharmacies

• Offers, attempts, or instructions to bypass purchasing laws and regulation

• Instructions for creating lethal or toxic substances

• Instructions for creating lethal weapons, like bombs or grenades, including 3d printed weapons

• Commercial sales of marijuana, marijuana products and paraphernalia

• Commercial sales of certain weapons and attachments 

• Harmful pranks or challenges that risk imminent physical harm or extreme emotional distress, especially if showing or encouraging the participation of minors

Harmful or Deceptive Products & Practices
OnMic isn’t a place for practices and products that may be harmful or deceptive. We limit the distribution of or remove such content and accounts, including, but not limited to:

• Instructions and products for hacking or breaching security measures

• Online gambling and lotteries

• Counterfeit documents

• Privacy violating products or services

• Exploitative financial practices

Impersonation
We don’t allow accounts that impersonate or misrepresent their affiliation with any person or organization. If you have a fan or commentary account for a public figure or brand, make it clear through your username or OnMic profile that you aren’t officially affiliated with them.

Intellectual property and other rights

To respect the rights of people on and off OnMic, please:

• Don’t infringe anyone's intellectual property, privacy or other rights.

• Don’t do anything or post any content that violates laws or regulations.

• Don’t use OnMic’s name, logo or trademark in a way that confuses people

Site security and access

• To protect the OnMic platform, we ask that you please:

  • Don’t access, use or tamper with our systems or our technical providers’ systems.

  • Don’t break or circumvent our security measures or test the vulnerability of our systems or networks, except as part of an authorized OnMic debugging program

  • Don’t use any undocumented or unsupported method to access, search, scrape, download or change any part of OnMic.

  • Don’t try to reverse engineer our software.

  • Don’t try to interfere with people on OnMic or our hosts or networks, like sending a virus, overloading, spamming or mail-bombing.

  • Don’t collect or store personally identifiable information from OnMic or people on OnMic without permission.

  • Don’t share your password, let anyone access your account or do anything that might put your account at risk.

  • Don’t attempt to buy or sell access to your account, boards, or usernames, or otherwise transfer account features for compensation.

Spam
We want the inspiration and ideas on OnMic to be high-quality and useful, so we remove spam when we find it. We ask that you be considerate of others' experiences on OnMic and don't spread spam or engage in spammy behavior. 

Our guidelines around spam are:

• Don't use automation that hasn't been explicitly approved by OnMic. This includes unauthorized services that automatically perform actions on your behalf.

• Don't create or operate accounts that aren't authentic, create accounts en masse, or create new accounts for the purpose of violating these guidelines.

• Don't create or save content that is repetitive, deceptive, or irrelevant in an attempt to make money.

• Don't send unsolicited messages or make irrelevant comments in bulk, especially when these are deceptive or commercial in nature.

• Don't attempt to artificially manipulate distribution, clicks or other metrics, including but not limited to: buying or selling engagement, "stuffing" irrelevant keywords, generating inauthentic traffic, redirecting existing Pins to new destinations, using fake or compromised accounts to perform coordinated actions.

• Don't attempt to evade our anti-spam systems, for example, by using shorteners, redirects or intermediate websites to obscure a link's final destination.